Los Angeles earned lasting recognition as the incubator for numerous glam and pop-metal acts that surfaced throughout the 1980s, yet comparable outfits also arose elsewhere, among them the Netherlands-based Sleeze Beez. Guitarists Chriz van Jaarsveld and Don van Spall, drummer Jan Koster, and bassist Ed Jongsma coalesced late in that decade once van Jaarsveld and Koster drew the notice of Red Bullet Records president Willem van Kooten, who assisted the emerging unit in launching its career. Their first album, Look Like Hell, appeared in 1987 and echoed the raw style of raunch-rock leaders AC/DC and Mötley Crüe. Shortly afterward the band secured an American contract with Atlantic Records, which issued Screwed Blued & Tattooed in 1990. Powertool, the third release and one captured by Aerosmith/UFO producer Gary Lyons, reached stores in 1992, yet declining enthusiasm for the Beez’s brand of rock prompted Atlantic to end the relationship. The quintet persisted anyway, delivering a final studio effort, Insanity Beach, along with the concert document Live in Tokyo in 1994 before disbanding. Elt and van Spall subsequently formed the rock band the Moon, while Koster and van Jaarsveld started Jetland. Sleeze Beez regrouped in 2001 to mount a tour and explore the possibility of fresh material.
